The Ice and Cold
by The-Queen-of-the-Pirates
Summary: The thing about a human life, they end so easily. Here now and gone in a flash. Humans are such fragile creatures, so easily destroyed. Written in his younger sister's point of view.


**I just saw Rise of the Guardians this weekend. It was so good I just had to write a fan fiction about it. ^^ I decided to write a family fic because I wished they'd developed his family life a little bit more. *shrug***

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.**

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The thing about a human life, they end so easily. Here now and gone in a flash. Humans are such fragile creatures, so easily destroyed. My big brother was no exception.

He was an idiot sometimes, he was mischievous and silly, he enjoyed pulling pranks on us often, but I loved him so. He was my brother and I never wanted anyone else.

I'll never forget the day I asked him to take me ice skating. I spend so many days, so many nights, wishing those words had never come out of my mouth. The temperature had dropped during the night. (It was always cold here, in the winter it could almost be unbearable.) The ice on the lakes had grown thick, through the window I saw all the other children in the village rushing here, and there. There ice skates swung from their arms as they sprinted towards a multitude of different lakes that lay nestled around our home. Their delight spread like a disease and soon I was sprung with a serious case of cabin fever. I wanted to go out, I wanted to play, but I was too young to go out on my own. So, like any young child, I turned to my strong older brother to take me. He agreed with that sparkling white smile of his. He never denied me anything. Just agreed, flashed me a smile and he was the coolest big brother ever in my mind. Sometimes, when the nights are darker and the wind seems at its coldest, a part of me wishes he hadn't been as good of a brother as he was, then maybe I wouldn't have missed him as much as I did. But those were fleeting moments.

My mother bundled me up and my brother took my hand, shrugging off her half hearted calls of "Be careful!" I pulled him in the direction of the nearest lake, it was in the woods aways, away from all of my screeching peers. Just me, my brother, and nature. I wasn't the only child in the village who admired my brother, this way, I didn't have to share his attention.

Another stupid mistake.

This particular lake, though I could have had no way of knowing this, was being fed by an underwater tributary. The water in this hidden stream was heated by the earth and emptied into the lake, raising its temperature ever so slightly. Thus the ice of this lake took a little bit longer to freeze than the rest of the lakes scattered about in this land. But I was blissfully unaware of this fact as I skidded along the ice, chasing after my much more balanced brother. The ice had never broken before, why would it now?

All that changed in a split second as a resounding crack echoed through the trees and stopped us in our tracks.

"Don't. Move." My brother breathed as slow as a whisper of snow on a gentle breeze. I couldn't help it. My eyes slid down to see thin cracks feathering through the ice beneath my and my brother's feet.

"Jack..." I whimpered. A cold claw of terror closed around my young heart, more frigid than the most frozen wind.

"Don't look down, just look at me." He instructed. "Your going to be alright." I lifted my eyes to my brother who offered a soft smile. My legs were shaking with the effort to keep my balance on the now disheveled ice, mixed with the fear that coursed through me. The blade of my ice skate trembled and caught in a groove and spread further fractures out beneath me.

"I'm scared."

"I know," I understand now what he was doing, he was trying to keep me focused on him, rather than the weak ice below me, "but it's alright, you don't need to be scared, we're... We're guna have some fun." He kept me distracted, reminding me of games we always played, as he hobbled a few steps forward on his bare feet and jumped to the thicker ice. "Now your turn." He crouched down to my level, fingering a dry branch on the ice next to him, ready to catch me should I stumbled his way. I tried to move the way he did, I really did, but he was barefoot whereas I had skates, when I hopped forward, I slipped, the ice began to give way. I screeched and Jack sprung into action grabbing the branch and hooking the edge sound my waist, dragging me to safety. For a moment I felt so much relief I almost shed tears, but there's a funny thing about ice. It doesn't give up its victims so easily.

When Jack pushed me forward, he pushed himself back, the little traction on the ice dragging him towards the center of the lake. I heard a crash and Jack yelled then only the sound of water lapping at the edges of the ice.

"Jack!" I let out a long cry, I turned and ran towards home, I couldn't help him on my own, he was twice my size and I couldn't even budge him during a playful sibling fight, let alone dead weight trying to drag him from the water. Our house was a short sprint away, I got my parents and my father ran ahead, having much longer legs than me and Mother.

Little thought passed through my mind during those few minutes, all I knew was I had to help my brother. There was a law in this land of ice and frozen wind, those who fell through the ice, died. I couldn't let that happen to Jack, and because he was saving me too. I didn't see what my parents did when we got back to the lake. My mother grabbed my arm as I tried to run past her and pulled me against her breast. I couldn't see what happened but her wails were enough information, even for someone as young as I.

I'd killed my brother.

Refusing to believe what I knew was true, I pushed against my mother, straining to get out of her grip. "Mama! Let me go! We have to save Jack! We- have to..." I trailed off as my mother fixed me with a stare, the kind that only a mother could give. So stern and caring at the same time, telling you exactly what you needed to know, which wasn't always what you wanted to hear. She scooped me up and carried me away. Away from that lake, and away from Jack. And finally, it dawned on me, I would ever see Jack again, my beloved brother was gone. Tears welled up in my eyes and I bawled into my mother's shoulder. It was my fault, it was all my fault, and no

one could convince me otherwise. Such a heavy burden for a young child to carry. My mother told me over and over not to blame myself but I couldn't listen to her. If I hadn't wanted to go ice skating, if I'd a a different lake, Jack would still be here.

The ice and cold had take my brother from me, but for some reason, I could never bring myself to feel contempt for it, to dream of someplace warmer. The ice was a part of everyone who lived in this place.

I still wish I could have saved Jack, that he could be here with me now and I could see that bright smile once more. But I know I can't change my past. Jack is never coming back to me.

Then again, sometimes, I still have trouble believing that my brother is really gone. Sometimes, when the wind carries snowflakes in it wake and the ice forms elaborate and beautiful frost patterns on the windows and trees, it's like I can still feel his presence. Carried through the wind and bringing with it the fun he'd always provided. Maybe it's just a girlish fantasy cooked up by the last shreds of child within me. But can't I dream a little bit?

Can't I believe?


End file.
